Jim Wade

Profile

Areas of expertise

• Unaccompanied asylum-seeking and refugee young people
• Transition from care to adulthood
• Children subject to Special Guardianship Orders
• Progress and wellbeing of looked after children
• Family reunification of looked after children

Academic biography

Prior to entering research, Jim had an extensive background in youth work, community education and social work with young people. After working as a Research Fellow at University of Leeds (1990-1995), he joined the School in 1995, initially in the Social Work Research and Development Unit (SWRDU) and then, as Senior Research Fellow, in the Social Policy Research Unit (SPRU). Jim formally retired in October 2017, but remains research active.

Over the past 20 years or so he has managed a range of large-scale research projects for government, research councils and charities. He has published widely in the area of social work and related services for vulnerable groups of children and young people, including looked after children, care leavers, young runaways and unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. His most recent research interests have centred on:

• the implementation of special guardianship
• the reunification of maltreated children from the care system
• on fostering services for asylum-seeking and refugee children
• and on pathways and outcomes for abused and neglected children

Recent publications

Books and reports

• Wade, J., Sinclair, I. and Stuttard, L. (2014) Investigating Special Guardianship: Experiences, Challenges and Outcomes, London: Department for Education. (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/investigating-special-guardianship)
• Biehal, N., Cusworth, L., Wade, J. with Clarke, S. (2014) Keeping Children Safe: Allegations Concerning the Abuse or Neglect of Children in Care, London: NSPCC.
• Wade, J., Sirriyeh, A., Kohli, R. and Simmonds, J. (2012) Fostering Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Young People: Creating a Family Life Across a ‘World of Difference’, London: BAAF.
• Wade, J., Biehal, N., Farrelly, N. and Sinclair, I. (2011) Caring for Abused and Neglected Children: Making the Right Decisions for Reunification or Long-Term Care, London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
• Wade, J., Dixon, J. and Richards, A. (2010) Special Guardianship in Practice, London: BAAF.
• Wade, J, Mitchell, F. and Baylis, G. (2005) Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children: The Response of Social Work Services, London: BAAF.
• Biehal, N., Mitchell, F. and Wade, J. (2003) Lost from View: Missing Persons in the UK, Bristol: The Policy Press.
• Biehal, N. and Wade. J. (2002) Children Who Go Missing: Research, Policy and Practice, London, Department of Health.
• Wade, J. (2002) Missing Out: Young Runaways in Scotland, Stirling, Aberlour Child Care Trust.
• Wade, J. and Biehal, N., with Clayden, J. and Stein, M. (1998) Going Missing: Young People Absent from Care, Chichester, Wiley.
• Biehal, N., Clayden, J., Stein, M. and Wade, J. (1995) Moving On: Young People and Leaving Care Schemes, London, HMSO.

Chapters in books

• Wade, J. (2014) ‘The mental health and wellbeing of young people leaving care’, in, Rahilly, T. and Hendry, E. (Eds.) Promoting the Wellbeing of Children in Care: Messages from Research, London: NSPCC, pp. 241-256.
• Sirriyeh, A. and Wade, J. (2013) Education pathways for lone asylum-seeking and refugee young people, in, Jackson, S. (ed) Pathways Through Education for Young People in Care, London: BAAF.
• Wade, J. (2009) Placement of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, in Schofield, G. and Simmonds, J. (Eds.) The Child Placement Handbook: Research, Policy and Practice, London: BAAF, 382-400.
• Wade, J. and Munro, E. (2008) United Kingdom, in, Stein, M. and Munro, E. (Eds.) Young People’s Transitions from Care to Adulthood: International Research and Practice, London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 209-224.
•  Dixon, J. and Wade, J. (2007) Leaving care? Transition planning and support for unaccompanied young people, in Kohli, R. and Mitchell, F. (Eds.), Working with  Seeking Children: Issues for Policy and Practice, Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.

Refereed journals

• Biehal, N., Baldwin, H., Cusworth, L., Wade, J. and Allgar, V. (in press) In-home support or out of home care? Thresholds for intervention with abused and neglected children, Children and Youth Services Review.
• Wade, J (in press) Supporting unaccompanied asylum-seeking young people: the experience of foster care, Child and Family Social Work.
• Wade, J. (2017) Pathways through care and after: unaccompanied minors in England, Social Work and Society, 15 (2), 1-15. Available: https://www.socwork.net/sws/article/view/524
• Biehal, N., Sinclair, I and Wade, J. (2015) Reunifying abused or neglected children: decision-making and outcomes, Child Abuse and Neglect, 49, 107-118.
• Wade, J. (2011) Preparation and transition planning for unaccompanied asylum-seeking and refugee young people: A review of evidence in England, Children and Youth Services Review, 33, 2424-2430.
• Wade, J. (2008) The ties that bind: support from birth families and substitute families for young people leaving care, British Journal of Social Work, 38, 39-54.
• Attar, S., Parker, G. and Wade, J. (2007) The potential of secondary data sources to explore the life chances of looked-after children in the care system in the UK, Journal of Children’s Services, 2, I2, 39-47.
• Wade, J. and Dixon, J. (2006) Making a home, finding a job: investigating early housing and employment outcomes for young people leaving care, Child and Family Social Work, 11, 3, 199-208.
• Wade, J. (2003) Children on the edge: patterns of running away in the UK, Child and Family Law Quarterly, 15, 4, 343-352.
• Biehal, N. and Wade, J. (2000) Going missing from residential and foster care: linking biographies and contexts, British Journal of Social Work, 30, 211-225.
• Biehal, N. and Wade, J. (1999) Taking a chance? The risks associated with going missing from substitute care, Child Abuse Review, 8, 366-376.
• Wade, J. (1997) Developing leaving care services: tapping the potential of foster carers, Adoption and Fostering, 21, 3, 40-49.
• Biehal, N. and Wade, J. (1996) Looking back, looking forward: care leavers, families and change, Children and Youth Services Review, 18, 4/5, 425-446.

Professional activities

Editorial board member of following journals:

• Child and Family Social Work
• International Journal of Child and Family Welfare

Research

Research team members

Child Welfare Research Group